Youssef Al-Thunayan.. The Saudi football tiger that will not be repeated
Many of the stars whose history abounds in Saudi football have succeeded with distinction in registering their names in letters of gold, raising the kingdom’s flag frantically on the podiums, so that their names remain bright, resonant in the ears of the fans of their local and green clubs, even after the demise of their star and the succession of generations.. Among these philosophers The phenomenon .. Youssef Al-Thunayan, the legend of Saudi and Asian football, is one of the most skilled players of the yellow continent in the middle of the field, one of the few who have achieved all the championships.
Youssef Nasser Al-Thunayan was born in Riyadh on November 18, 1963. The number of championships he won with Al-Hilal and the national team reached 28 championships that made him to the top, 25 with Al-Hilal, one of them with the club’s youth team and 3 championships with the Saudi national team.
Yousef Al-Thunayan has achieved all the titles of local championships with Al-Hilal, the King Abdulaziz-The Founder Cup, the King’s Cup, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques League Cup, the Crown Prince Cup, the Premier League, the Federation Cup, and the Arab Championships, the Arab League of Champions League, the Arab Elite Cup, and the Gulf Cooperation Council Cup For clubs, Asian Championships, Club Cup, League Champions, Asian Cup Winners’ Cup, Asian Super Cup, and with the national team, he won the Asian Nations Cup and the Arab Cup.
The first championship that Al-Thunayan achieved with Al-Hilal was the Kingdom’s Youth Championship in the first season in which he joined Al-Hilal in 1983, after defeating Al-Ittihad in the final match with a clean goal by Al-Thunayan himself, and it was the beginning of a long series of achievements.
Al-Thunayan is the second most Saudi player to achieve the local league championship, where he won the title 7 times. He is considered the best and most leader to ascend to the podiums to receive the cup, as he ascended 11 times to receive the cup for Hilal.
Youssef Al-Thunayan started with the Yugoslav coach Ljubisa Brosic, who was supervising the Al-Hilal school, where Youssef Al-Thunayan joined the school, and was included with Al-Hilal in all stages, juniors, youth, first.
Al-Thunayan participated in the first match with Al-Hilal youth against Sudos, and represented Al-Hilal youth in the same season because the team needed its services, and in the following year he represented the first team, and achieved with Al-Hilal a championship in his first season, while with the national team he played 109 international matches and scored 45 goals.
At the level of the Saudi green, Yousef Al-Thunayan is considered one of the most important and best Saudi football players throughout its long history. 3 times, Al-Akhdar reached the final of the tournament, and the team won the Arab Championship in 1988. He was one of the active names that led to Saudi Arabia’s participation in the 1998 World Cup. Al-Thunayan scored a goal in that tournament during the South Africa match. Al-Thunayan was able through his busy career with the Saudi national team to score forty-five goals, the first of which was in a friendly match between Saudi Arabia and Wales, while its last goal was against Bahrain in the Gulf Cup championship in Bahrain.
His personal achievements
Best Asian Player Award in the 1986 Asian Club Championship, which was held in Riyadh.
Best player award in the eleventh Asian Championship for Champions League Clubs Doha 1991.
Best player award in Asia for the month of February 1996 AD.
His collective accomplishments
1984 King’s Cup 1985 – Saudi League
1986 – Saudi League 1986 – Gulf Cooperation Council
1987- Saudi Federation Cup.
1988- Saudi League
1989 – King’s Cup
1990 – Saudi League
1992 – Asian Cup Champions League
1995 – Arab League Champions Cup
1995 Crown Prince Cup
1996- Sultan bin Abdulaziz Cup
1996 Saudi Federation Cup
1996 Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques League
1996 – Arab League Champions Cup
1997 – AFC Asian Cup Winners’ Cup
1998 Asian Super Cup
1998 – Gulf Cooperation Council Cup
1998- Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques League
2000 Saudi Federation Cup
2001- Arab Elite Cup
2002 Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques League
With the team
The Asian Cup in Qatar in 1988 and in the United Arab Emirates in 1996. The 1998 Arab Championship, and he qualified with the Saudi national team to the 1998 World Cup.
His first international goal was against Wales in the 66th minute in an international friendly match, and his last goal was against Bahrain 11/2/1998 in the Gulf Cup 1998-Bahrain.
His retirement
Youssef Al-Thunayan stopped playing in the middle of the 2002/03 season; And that was because he traveled with his mother for reasons of her treatment in Germany, then he officially announced his retirement in the 2003/2004 season, and his retirement festival was held 12/14/2005 at King Fahd Stadium in Riyadh, in the presence of the Spanish club Valencia. The match ended with Al Hilal Saudi Arabia winning 2-1, scored by Yasser Al-Qahtani and Abdullah Al-Jamaan.